147 comments:

Trump has a beautiful wife too, but she doesn't seem to be enlisting him in whatever her restrictive diet is. Or maybe she likes him eating cheeseburgers and fries. From what I've read in liberal commentary, she maybe likes him eating lots and lots and lots of cheeseburgers.

Is the objection to Trump splitting his infinitives? Or is it that Trump wrote something at all? Many of the trolls commenting here would object to Trump saying it’s a beautiful morning with lovely blue skies.

I had hoped Tom would retire gracefully and be replaced by Jimmy Garropolo for the next ten years. One thing about people with Brady's competitive fire is they don't know how to quit when they should. Peyton same thing , but his defense rescued him. Brady had a great game in the Super Bowl and a marginal defense doesn't win Super Bowls so Philly won. I still wish we were looking forward to having Garropolo as our starter next year and were off the razor's edge of Brady's age. (the whole foodie thing makes me wonder about a bit about his mental stability) As painful as it was, the 49ers were proven correct in trading Joe Montana and installing Steve Young/ the Packers in trading Favre. The NFL is, after all, just a business. The winter in NE will be interesting.

"all other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart"

Brady is a more effective QB than most. No reason to retire unless he wants to. He provides great leadership. Too bad Garropolo is not in the wings but that is the way with the NFL and their weird ways. The Eagles played a better game last night and The Pats were not quite as good. That's all. Very enjoyable game.

Brady’s “good game” is better than any QB. The Patriots owner chose Brady over Bellichick when he told Bellichick to trade Garropolo. Bellichick got out coached again. And his eye for defensive talent is crap. He benched Butler in favor of corners who can’t play. Bellichick days are numbered.

@Khesanh 0802 -- Brady passed for 505 yards, averaging 10.5 yards a completion, and threw for 3 touchdowns against one of the top passing defenses in the league. He was constantly under pressure (Foles was never under pressure) and I'm not sure what he was supposed to do better, other than not get sacked that one time.

Butler did not have a great season and should not be compared to his performance in 2016. People point out that Foles threw successfully against Butler's replacement, Rowe, but that Eagles attack was notable for how many catches their receivers made in coverage.

Kneeling for the National Anthem to "protest" vague perceived injustices, somewhere, against some people, is just plain ignorant. Sorry.

If black or even white football players (many of whom are millionaires) want to "do" something positive, they should proudly stand for the National Anthem, but then donate their time and $$ to whatever cause they feel strongly about.

On the merits and the politics and the economics of this one, Trump is where the broad spectrum of American people are.

If the players were to go to see Trump they would be destroying their careers, as their owners and sponsors would force them out, and furthermore ruin any chance of advertising and post-retirement income.

Much like the pressure that was put on performers at Trumps inauguration, the PTB that control entertainment careers have this power.

Your enemies are extremely powerful. Your only recourse is to destroy the industries they control, or harm them significantly so as to change their owners risk analyses.

Inga said...“The players who take a knee in protest, does in no way, shape or form dishonor or disrespect or have anything to do with military members serving their country. Most people understand this.“

Every kneeler knows it is pissing people off. Every kneeler knows why it pisses people off. And that is why they do it.

Everyone knows that when we see a kneeling fuckhead at the anthem that veterans who lost friends are thinking about the friends they lost. Doesn’t matter what they say. That’s what we are thinking about.

If they cared at all they would respect that.

But they don’t care that I don’t enjoy watching games anymore because the first thing I have to do is think about the people that didn’t come back.

The left is happy killing the NFL. They like destroying things that make Americans happy.

And the kneeling is done by dimwits who do not realize that the clock has run out on the game of "protests." The dimwits virtue signaling does no more good than putting a pussy hat on a little girl. Both bits of #resistance are pathetic morphing into hilarious.

"The left is happy killing the NFL. They like destroying things that make Americans happy."

Football (and professional sports in general) help hold the American body politic together, it is (or was) something you could share with your neighbors, untainted by partisan rancor. So, of course, it had to be destroyed, or tainted by partisan politics: by protesting "racist" mascots, by maneuvering the NFL into endorsing blatant displays of anti-Americanism, by any means available. The left wants the populace divided.

"Not only don’t I remember, I’m positive I didn’t ask any such thing and wonder what your problem is that you could think I did."

I can't recall where we started, but the conversation turned to the possibility that women would withhold sex in order to punish or control men. You seemed to doubt that this was likely, and your doubt took the form of a question about the notional group of men who might be vulnerable to this tactic. Maybe the Jordan Peterson post?

If not, you're on either the prostitution spectrum or the rape spectrum. Which one?

History has usually treated marriage as primarily an economic transaction between two families, not an emotional relationship between two individuals. Most modern feminists consider marriage to be legalized rape.

"Everyone knows that when we see a kneeling fuckhead at the anthem that veterans who lost friends are thinking about the friends they lost. Doesn’t matter what they say. That’s what we are thinking about."

Some have no interest in what veterans think or feel, although they do wrap themselves in the flag when convenient. Most people understand this.

The populace is divided, by substantially different cultures and by opposing interests.

Much of "shared" culture is ersatz, manufactured.

Much of this was imposed through public education and mass media even in the 19th century. But back then it was in furtherance of nationalism. Its interesting that the whole world went through that phase at around the same time - making a nation out of disparate parts went on through remarkably similar means in France, Germany and Italy in parallel.

There is a great deal of this left over but its looking more and more antique. Longfellow's poetry and the music of Sousa for instance.

The propaganda machine has ceased to push unifying nationalism. This is symptom I think of the increasingly rigid polarization of interests, especially those that control the propaganda machine. They no longer see value in unity, as such. They prefer dominance. Unity on their terms, without so much as a patriotic fig leaf.

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore has set a new per-capita homicide record as gunmen killed for drugs, cash, payback - or no apparent reason at all.

A surge of homicides in the starkly divided city resulted in 343 killings in 2017, bringing the annual homicide rate to its highest ever - roughly 56 killings per 100,000 people. Baltimore, which has shrunk over decades, currently has about 615,000 inhabitants.

Others blame police, accusing them of taking a hands-off approach to fighting crime since six officers were charged in connection with the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, a black man whose fatal spinal cord injury in police custody triggered massive protests that year and the city's worst riots in decades."

Enjoy the world you made, leftists. Of course, it won't be people who comment here who do the suffering.

"Everyone knows that when we see a kneeling fuckhead at the anthem that veterans who lost friends are thinking about the friends they lost"

........."The fuckheads are thinking about people they have lost too......"

They are fuckheads precisely for the reason that their so called protests are not really going to accomplish anything other than piss of people who may (or may not) be able to be persuaded to see their point of view.

Posturing and posing with no follow through. Futile and counter productive.

IF...these mutli million dollar athletes are serious, truly believe in their cause, they would find a way to actually try to solve the problem

Until then they are just whining, destructive, petulant children who deserve a big time out. Which is what they are getting with falling revenues, lack of viewership.

Unfortunately, they are hurting some of the very people who they posture to want to help and they are hurting their fellow teammates. The very definition of being a fuckhead.

Ann Althouse said...Trump has a beautiful wife too, but she doesn't seem to be enlisting him in whatever her restrictive diet is. Or maybe she likes him eating cheeseburgers and fries. From what I've read in liberal commentary, she maybe likes him eating lots and lots and lots of cheeseburgers.

"The propaganda machine has ceased to push unifying nationalism. This is symptom I think of the increasingly rigid polarization of interests, especially those that control the propaganda machine."

Careful, buwaya. Rightly or wrongly, pointing out that the people who control the propaganda machine in this country seem to have a hearty disdain for the traditional culture of its predominant ethnic group is called "anti-semitism".

Denying that women generally have lower sex drives than men is naive or dishonest.

It's important to find out early how much a girl wants/needs sex. I've purposefully screened every girl I've ever dated. At some point early on in the dating process, hanging out for the night is basically implied sex, regardless of any other activities (dinner, movie, board games with friends, concerts, etc). The expectation is, we go home together (to either her place or mine) afterwards and do it.

So I don't. We go home together, she expects sexy time, and I either make an excuse (feeling nauseous or really sleepy), or just drop her off and tell her I need to get up early the next morning for something. I do this 2 or 3 times, usually in a row. At some point, either she'll ask me what's wrong, actively complain about lack of sex, or try to plan a surprise visit, usually wearing something very sexy under her clothes. If she does any of those (but especially the last option), signs point to her being at least close to my level of sex drive. If she pretends not to notice, either she's not at my level or she's getting it somewhere else.

The girl who ended up as my wife did the last thing, except she did it over Spring Break (just good timing by accident) and stayed at my place for three days. She brought several sexy outfits (I never saw the same one twice), and greeted me each day when I got home wearing one of them with the sex in her eyes. I almost got kicked out of my rented townhouse from the noise complaints we generated.

Normally it's not a great idea for a "girlfriend" to stay over for so long, but I trusted her and already had more access to her life than she did to mine (knew her passwords and such, whereas she did not know mine), so I felt secure that my private things would remain private. And aside from a brief period at the beginning of our relationship, she was the only girl I was dating so I had nothing to hide in that regard.

Screening a woman for sexual interest is almost as important as screening them for "crazy".

Dust Bunny Queen said..."IF...these multi million dollar athletes are serious, truly believe in their cause, they would find a way to actually try to solve the problem."

They have all been to college, where they were told that almost all of their problems are the result of white racism. The people who told them this were mostly white themselves, and a good deal smarter than these athletes, so you really can't blame them for believing what they've been told.

Perhaps if we are serious, and really believe in our cause, we need to find some way to regain control of the universities. Or failing that, to destroy them.

Achilles: Why do you hate the USA and at the same time seek to trash your oath to uphold and defend the constitution, including the first amendment. In a free country, protest is the primary right in which veterans are tasked to fight for.

I think you are pissed because you and your fellow veterans volunteered for a war without any goal, meaning or usefulness based on lies and implemented with total incompetence. All the lives on both sides were wasted for nothing and instead of being pissed at yourself for being duped by the GW Bush administration, you put all of your frustration and hate on people who had nothing to do with sending you to war. Instead, the focus of your anger is directed at those who are exercising their rights you swore a sacred oath to defend.

You got fucked coming and going. That's what's got you lashing out at shadows while the true ghouls who profited from your sacrifice laugh all the way to the hedge fund

As an addendum, it really helps if you're good in bed. Women get a lot of bad sex. Some put up with it because their man is either super-Alpha in other ways, and some put up with it because they don't really know any better or don't have any other options. But a hot chick dating a regular guy will get good sex one way or another; if she's patient and really digs you, she'll suggest ways to improve, otherwise she'll find someone who already knows.

Worst thing a man can do is disregard these kinds of suggestions (unless they're super freaky or objectionable, like "call me Mommy" or "put this collar on me and attach the leash"). Quite frankly, I took every reasonable suggestion my first few girlfriends ever gave me, and still incorporate some of them to this day. If a man is truly good in bed, almost any girl's sex drive will tick up a few notches because she knows it's going to be a very enjoyable experience. For guys who have trouble telling, you'll know things in bed are going great if your girl orders a mattress protector for use under the fitted sheet.

LOL, I could care less what you believe, or how old anyone thinks I am. I post about things that I have experience with, and if someone lacking such experience chooses to believe that I'm lying or exaggerating, that just tells me that they haven't had those same experiences. Unlike others, I'm not degrading anyone here - just offering sincere advice based on what's worked for me.

Well, at least not just with you. Which is the point. Every child knows his mother, and every mother knows who her children are. But it's a wise child who knows his father. Marrying a woman because of her proven strong interest in sex may not be a good reproductive strategy.

The NFL owners are the problem. They are the ones committed to global cash flows and see no reason at all for pursuing National Patriotism, and in fact American Patriotism embarrass them among their friends.

And THIS is why men need to screen. As mentioned above, if you can strategically withhold sex for a few dates (after sexy times have already been underway for awhile) and she doesn't complain or pretends not to notice, either she really doesn't care or she's getting somewhere else.

If a man withholds, and she's ready to jump his bones, then she's (more likely than not) both faithful and horny.

But when I type it and include a personal anecdote, I guess that's different?

Oh well. FYI, feel free to share that male strategy with your daughters of dating age. It might give them a leg up, so to speak, if their prospective suitor ever uses it on them.

Howard wrote: Achilles: Why do you hate the USA and at the same time seek to trash your oath to uphold and defend the constitution, including the first amendment. In a free country, protest is the primary right in which veterans are tasked to fight for.

For shame! Such transparent rhetorical manoeuvres are beneath you, Howard, as is your patently false premise. No one has the right to protest and get paid. Football players are paid obscene sums to entertain football fans. The fans are well within their rights as purchasers of the players' time to demand they observe proper decorum regarding the Pledge of Allegiance.

And the problem here is not the players - They are reacting to a mix of incentives and group dynamics. They have a problem in NOT demonstrating. This stuff is usually the result of a fear of informal social and career sanctions.

The real players are the real players - those that can lean on someone to tell someone else to keep x off the Wheaties box, or who can nix Andrea Bocelli's gigs.

Readering, I think there's a decent mix of (mostly older than me) folks, with all sorts of sexual proclivities and mores, who read this blog. Some of the folks who comment here are quite "with it" in terms of being comfortable with talking about sex and dating. Others are prudes. Still others just don't like hearing a male perspective on sex, especially a tail-end Gen Xer like myself (is '85 still Gen-X? I hope it is.)

Hannity & Colmes is the first news program I ever watched on a regular basis, BTW. I was 15 at the time, and 9/11 had yet to happen (though it was coming soon).

So don't assume ALL Fox News viewers are old. I know quite a few folks my age who still watch it (I do not, gave up cable awhile back), and you'd be surprised at the number of younger folks that channel has been attracting recently.

One of these characters who was a real player, in that entertainment world, was Harvey Weinstein. A relative small timer even in that world, but the way he kept all those not-poor people on a leash, who got them to go along for so many years, should be instructive.

They were deathly afraid of Weinstein and his minions and his extensive contacts, with which he could maintain discipline among his victims. He credibly threatened their careers and future income. It remains to be seen if the pressure he exerted was only for the purpose of enabling or covering up his personal misbehavior. Did he use this for other purposes, like politics?

What other Weinsteins are there? What sort of Weinstein-like pressure was exerted on Bocelli? What sort of similar pressure is there on athletes?

Quaestor, I don't watch cable news but I enjoy reading the comments here to get a sense both of what's on and who's making them. Hence my comment to Kyzernick. To him, I point out they publish cable news demographics. Not many still in the market for advice on picking future life partners (although maybe some read his comments ruefully).

Howard said...Achilles: Why do you hate the USA and at the same time seek to trash your oath to uphold and defend the constitution, including the first amendment. In a free country, protest is the primary right in which veterans are tasked to fight for.

I fully believe in their right to be douchebags. Everyone has that right because of the people in graves the douchebags are pissing on to make their point.

Your argument is a straw man.

They can totally protest. I can totally not like watching football anymore and I can totally call them douchebags.

So. if I go to a funeral and during the memorial service I am on my cell phone and talking and texting - no one should be offended because I am not intending to offend anyone? No matter what their intentions - with various players claiming different intentions - to kneel during the Anthem is disrespectful.

Readering, you're probably right in that "life partner choosing" advice isn't going to be the most helpful thing for some of the folks here. But broadly speaking, I think some of what I mentioned above about screening potential LTR material is helpful to a single man of almost any age below AARP level who is actively dating or trying to actively date.

Anyone reading my comments ruefully has only themselves to blame. A man knows by age 16-17 whether he will be a "natural" with women or not. For those who are not, the best thing to do is learn from the "naturals" - at least if ending up with a desirable woman is part of one's life goals. It was part of mine, and so I learned from my friends who were amazing with women how to do the same.

Amazingly, most of it came down to "forget everything your mother told you about what girls want".

if you can strategically withhold sex for a few dates (after sexy times have already been underway for awhile) and she doesn't complain or pretends not to notice, either she really doesn't care or she's getting somewhere else.

Or maybe you just weren't that great and she decided instead of playing mental games she would find someone who just wants to have some good sex without the game playing.

. A man knows by age 16-17 whether he will be a "natural" with women or not.

Howard said...Achilles: Why do you hate the USA and at the same time seek to trash your oath to uphold and defend the constitution, including the first amendment. In a free country, protest is the primary right in which veterans are tasked to fight for."

Ah, yes, the usual template:

The Left stages an offensively stupid protest. (Kneeling for the anthem, marching around dressed as gigantic vags, carrying signs portraying Trump or Walker or Dubya as Hitler, chanting or pulling fire alarms in order to drown out a conservative speaker.)

Conservatives criticize the protest for being offensive.

The Leftist retort: "You're against freedom of speech! You're against the Constitution!" There's a deliberate conflation of criticism or boycotting with actively trying to shut someone up, which is as dishonest as their habit of lumping illegal immigration together with legal immigration so they can quote the Emma Lazarus poem and feel noble.

Their other transparent ploy is to try to use the Right's terminology against them: thus we get called "snowflakes" despite the fact that we're not the ones weeping about faked hate crimes or throwing public screaming fits because of an election or because Ben Shapiro is within 3 blocks of us.

In short, leftists believe they should never ever be criticized or held to account for anything.

"Or maybe you just weren't that great and she decided instead of playing mental games she would find someone who just wants to have some good sex without the game playing. "

You're basically just restating what I typed. Either she doesn't care or (as you say), she's getting it somewhere else.

Women play mental games in relationships all the time. Every man has experienced at least some form of mental game with a woman at some point, unless they're a monk. I think you just don't like the idea that men can, on occasion, turn the tables.

As for my comment about knowing when you're a "natural" or not, the only cases where a guy can be almost done with puberty and NOT know one way or the other are A) if he's gay, or B) if he has been so insulated from social interaction that he doesn't know what he doesn't know.

My heart is certainly blessed. Being able to attract and marry a wonderful woman is probably one of my biggest blessings of all.

@exiledonmainstreet as I'm sure you're aware, technically all that nonsense (being deliberately offensive, feigning ignorance, co-opting your opponent's own arguments and idioms) are strategies that were outlined by Alinsky years ago. But of course knowing all that doesn't make it any less annoying and tedious. It's a constant trial to beat back the endless tide of bullshit produced by the Left. They know this too.

You're basically just restating what I typed. Either she doesn't care or (as you say), she's getting it somewhere else.

True, except you left out the part where, maybe you just suck at sex despite thinking you are a natural....hypothetically, of course ;-D

Then there is the possibility that a self absorbed personality (man or woman) can counterbalance even the best sex and turn a relationship from fun to tedious. After all, you can only spend so many hours having sex before you get blisters and worn out...and do need to have an actual honest two way conversation once in a while.

Female clue is that if the guy is spending most of his time bragging about himself and has more personal care products on the sink that you do....dump him. Too much work.

As for kneeling. does not seem to be a particular reason for it. Kind of a generic catch all, now. Started out protesting police brutality, I think. Trump brought up disparaging military. Players kneel to protest Trump. Others say stop watching football to protest protesters. NFL sides with kneelers. Watching commercials on Superbowl, NFL targeting younger demo.

To all you Pats fans who responded to my comments about Tommy: Defense wins titles; the Pats defense was not championship worthy this season; I agree that Belichick was out-coached in the execution department; I have no idea what the Butler situation was about but suspect it reflects some coaching/personal issues and his spotty season (the kids a scrapper, I like him); I think Brady is the GOAT no question and he was what made the game even close. My comments were more from the team building angle for long run success(neither Favre nor Montana were at the end of their careers when they were let go either); I agree that it is likely that Kraft overruled Bill on what was going to happen with Brady for the 2018-19 season - I think he will may that from a football, but not a personal, perspective..

I have been a sturdy Pats fan since they played at BU, Braves field (there's an antique memory ) and Harvard Stadium. I am fascinated by how Belichick builds a team and am convinced that Garoppolo was scheduled in for 2018.

"Female clue is that if the guy is spending most of his time bragging about himself and has more personal care products on the sink that you do....dump him. Too much work."

Or as a friend of mine put it, explaining why she broke up with a very handsome boyfriend, "You don't want a guy who is going to be in deadly competition with you for use of the bathroom mirror every morning."

And as for the self-absorbed stuff, that is true to a point. Most women want a man who has goals and passions that he devotes time to, rather than a workaday schlub who lives merely for her pleasure and excitement. Women don't want a tabula rasa - they want a man with personality who has his own desires and needs. It can be taken too far of course, which is why women have their own ways of screening men.

The only personal care products a man should really need on his sink are a toothbrush/toothpaste, floss, razor or trimmer, nail clippers, hand soap, and maybe a tube of hair gel and/or a container of beard balm. MAYBE tweezers, although I always kept mine in the medicine cabinet because they're pretty much just for annoying nose hairs and splinters.

I also have a tube of Icy Hot, but that's only since I turned 30 a few years back. Younger Kyzernick could work out 5 days a week and not need Icy Hot - today's version finds it indispensable.

Achilles: True story. Us boomer kids grew up in an era where our Mom's regularly douched and kept the douche bags hung up in the shower. You got use to it after a while. So, when you call me a douche bag, it reminds me of my late peacenick protesting mother, thanks.

In any event, if the kneelers are pissing on anyone, it's the police, specifically the trigger-happy racist cops who gun down or choke-out unarmed blacks.

Therefore, you are the onemaking veterans straw men imagined to be pissed on by freemen exercising their god-given rights. No wonder you admire and support a Putin Fellatrix.

"In any event, if the kneelers are pissing on anyone, it's the police, specifically the trigger-happy racist cops who gun down or choke-out unarmed blacks."

Well, that is what that little sack of shit Colin Kaepernick seemed to think he was doing. But then you have to wonder, if that's what they are protesting, why are they doing it in NFL stadiums during the National Anthem? It seems fairly clear that their intention is to display their contempt for the flag and the nation it stands for. Which is their right, if their owners will tolerate it, and fuck them very much.

Just going to address the restrictive diet topic... Science! once upon a yesteryear tied the alkaloid substance solanine in nightshade plants to inflammation. Staying away from them was supposed to help those with pain and inflammation associated with such issues as arthritis. Perhaps Mrs. Brady hasn't gotten the memo that science! now debunks that "factoid". Damn science. Always changing crap up on us.

@inga: The players who take a knee in protest, does in no way, shape or form dishonor or disrespect or have anything to do with military members serving their country. Most people understand this.

my father, a combat veteran of ww2 and korea how had a 30 year career in the air force doesn't understand. my brother in law, who also had a 30 year career in the air force, doesn't understand. my cousin, a combat veteran of iraq and afghanistan who had a 32 year career in the air force reserve, doesn't understand. i've never served in any branch of service, but i don't understand. my wife, whose father is also a combat veteran of ww2 and korea, doesn't understand.

i think if you talk to families with a propensity towards military service, like my family, you'll find they don't understand either.

Sorry, dhagood, we learned the other night that Inga's Trump-hating liberal Navy daughter is more important than any other service member or veteran. Only her opinion counts. Only she is worthy of respect. And Inga somehow has complete moral authority because of her daughter. But don't think you do.

Kyzernick lists: The only personal care products a man should really need on his sink are a toothbrush/toothpaste, floss, razor or trimmer, nail clippers, hand soap, and maybe a tube of hair gel and/or a container of beard balm. MAYBE tweezers, although I always kept mine in the medicine cabinet because they're pretty much just for annoying nose hairs and splinters.

"'@inga: The players who take a knee in protest, does in no way, shape or form dishonor or disrespect or have anything to do with military members serving their country. Most people understand this.'

"my father, a combat veteran of ww2 and korea how had a 30 year career in the air force doesn't understand. my brother in law, who also had a 30 year career in the air force, doesn't understand. my cousin, a combat veteran of iraq and afghanistan who had a 32 year career in the air force reserve, doesn't understand. i've never served in any branch of service, but i don't understand. my wife, whose father is also a combat veteran of ww2 and korea, doesn't understand.

"i think if you talk to families with a propensity towards military service, like my family, you'll find they don't understand either."

Why should your family members or any people who have served in the military take personally the protests of others who protest the flag because they feel their community has been brutalized by law enforcement? Why should they feel compelled to salute a system they feel has not served them equally, and why should military members care in the least?

After all, if the freedom we brag about having is meaningful and valuable at all, it is because we have the freedom to criticize, complain, and protest social or political conditions we disagree with, to believe and say things that others disagree with and may even detest. A guarantee of protected free speech is only needed in a nation where people have different ideas and want to be able to express them openly. If all anyone said was how great we are, free speech protections wouldn't be needed.

Most of our wars, and none of our recent ones, have had anything to do with protecting our freedoms, but to the extent any of our wars have, they are protecting our right to refuse to salute the flag. That is what we should be proudest of.

I read where this is the worst ratings for a Super Bowl in eight years after have two major markets and a very close game.

They will continue to enable their players who despise their fans. The NFL is more afraid of their players than their base in the working class white people who were also abandoned by the Democratic Party.

The NFL used to be run by smart Jews like Pete Rozzelle and street smart Irishman like the Maras and the Rooneys and George Halas. But now we are into the third generation and their leader is a Republican cuck WASP who would never put the interest of the fans in front of approval from the elite.

Social Justice is more important than the flag and fans who revere it.

Mr. Cook — You raise the interesting question of who gets to decide what is offensive. For most of my life, I have believed that the mental state and motives of the putative offender were the most important relevant considerations, but recently I have been instructed by my betters that it is only the reactions of the putative offendees that matter, and putative offenders are responsible for “owning” the foreseen and unforeseen reactions others may have to their potentially offense-inducing conduct. It seems to me that you have conducted what I now believe to be an outmodeed analysis, under which a third-party observer may take a sympathetic attitude toward the perceived motives and mental state of a putative offender while evaluating the reasonableness of a putative offendee in taking offense. However, I think you are generally more modern in these matters than I am, so I fear I may have misunderstood my lesson.

standing while the national anthem is played while the nation's flag is displayed is showing respect to those who sacrificed everything defending the country. standing for the national anthem has nothing to do with law enforcement, federal, state, or local police, or with the criminal justice system. it's about those who suffered or died defending us all.

have some communities been "brutalized" by law enforcement? i guess that depends on your definition of community, but i will say that there have been many high-handed actions by law enforcement and all too many police shootings that i can find little or no justification. do athletes or anybody else have the right to protest such things? absolutely, but why do they choose to protest by not standing for the national flag?

this country doesn't have a national police force. if nfl athletes are protesting police malfeasance why aren't the protesters using state or local flags? if a local cop shoots somebody unlawfully why disrespect american veterans who fought and died? what does one have to do with the other?

my father has told me that he regards nfl players not standing for the anthem as a personal slap in the face to him and those he served with.

Anthropology question: What is it about well-off white women that makes them want to hire a stylist and a photographer to photograph not themselves but their fruits and vegetables, and then make those photographs public?

"Anthropology question: What is it about well-off white women that makes them want to hire a stylist and a photographer to photograph not themselves but their fruits and vegetables, and then make those photographs public?"

They are just the grown up and richer versions of their teenage daughters that use their cell phone cameras to take pictures of their apparently fascinating food and put them on instagram. Don't ask me how I know.

Thanks for this comment. My then-33-year-old daughter adopted this diet almost a year ago (and added wheat and dairy to the restricted list). I couldn't find much scientific support for it, but there are certainly a number of websites which seem to use each other as references.

Seemed a bit like an affectation to me. But, I can't tell my daughter anything, so I don't try.

"standing while the national anthem is played while the nation's flag is displayed is showing respect to those who sacrificed everything defending the country. standing for the national anthem has nothing to do with law enforcement, federal, state, or local police, or with the criminal justice system. it's about those who suffered or died defending us all."

The black football players kneeling during the national anthem are protesting police brutality and murder of black youths.

Precious few Americans who have died in our wars over the centuries have actually fought or died defending the country. Most of our wars are not and have not been in "defense" of our country but in expansion of our power and acquisition of resources. Most who have died fighting in our military have died to help corporate entities plunder the world.

For those who fought in battles that did defend our country, they fought for the right for all of us to have our own views, our own ideas, no matter how objectionable to anyone else. They fought, as I said, for our right NOT to salute or stand for the flag.

Contra PJ above, who states I raise the question of "who gets to decide what's offensive," I do not raise this question. We are all free to take offense at any ideas or behavior that offends us. However, we should also recognize and wish to protect the right and freedom of others to say or do things that we find offensive, for in so doing we protect our own freedom to do or say that which will offend others.

The black football players kneeling during the national anthem are protesting police brutality and murder of black youths.

no kidding? what does protesting local police actions have to do with the national anthem and flag?

recious few Americans who have died in our wars over the centuries have actually fought or died defending the country. Most of our wars are not and have not been in "defense" of our country but in expansion of our power and acquisition of resources. Most who have died fighting in our military have died to help corporate entities plunder the world.

in your worldview, perhaps. i won't debate this with you as we will not find common ground. i will say that the actions or motives of the government which commanded these service men and women did not lessen the totality of their sacrifice. they died fighting under the flag of a freely elected democratic form of government, and the fact that you don't agree with actions of that government doesn't matter.

i'm not trying to get personal here cookie but your word salad justifying not respecting the nation's war dead finds me unpersuaded. i find the spectacle of rich entertainers not respecting the national anthem and flag to protest local issues contemptible.

However, we should also recognize and wish to protect the right and freedom of others to say or do things that we find offensive, for in so doing we protect our own freedom to do or say that which will offend others.

Scott Adams had a good take. He said that playing football at the professional level takes monomanic concentration and commitment. So does reforming a society so that it demonstrates social justice in all its dealings and transactions. You can have one or another but not both. I think it's significant that none of the teams in the playoffs had any kneelers on them.......I note that there are other countries besides America that have aggrieved minorities in their midst. . Why has this form of protest not spread to those countries? The answer is obvious. Catch 22. If you can make this kind of protest, your grievances are no so grievous.

Neatly trimmed nasal hair is the sine qua non of a successful seduction......Random observation: .I'm watching Berlin Babylon. Some of the girls have hairy legs. Is that a sign of decadence or fascism?

Well, the football players are doing so and are being criticized for it. If they're not valuable to the team and to the team owners, they'll face consequences. If they're valuable to the team and to the team owners...probably not so much. The point is, they're taking a risk of being sanctioned by their employers and they feel they compelled to do it anyway. Making a public stand or protest is always risky if one is doing it in a way that will draw attention and arouse a response. Polite, by-the-rules protest is a contradiction in terms and is inconsequential.

My question is: Why, at a fucking sporting event, is the National Anthem played and the audience and all participants have to get up and show deference to the United States?

"no kidding? what does protesting local police actions have to do with the national anthem and flag?"

Really?

These local police actions have occurred all over the nation. This can't help but be ominous and significant to those most affected by it, to those whose history here in America is fraught with violent oppression.

Obama didn't hate our country, and neither do I. Obama merely continued the work of his predecessors in fulfilling the agenda of the ruling elites. I hate the bad our country does, (while continually bragging about our unparalleled wonderfulness and unmatched virtue).

"No one in the stands is forced to stand for the anthems but not doing so may incur the wrath of one's fellow fans."

Yes, and why should others be angry at those who don't stand, or why should they feel others should be compelled to stand?

More to the point of my question: why does this even go on at sporting events? Why is the National Anthem sung or performed at a sporting event?